The present invention generally relates to a device for making slit facings of a garment, in particular, for making sleeve plackets having a binding strip folded about one edge of a slit, and securing the slit end against tearing. This kind of placket construction has been applied to shirts and other garments such as blouses of higher quality.
There are various methods known for making such sleeve plackets. A strictly manual procedure can be described as follows: At first, the binding strip is attached at its margin to one edge of a slit of a sleeve blank. After turning the binding strip over the edge and infolding the other margin, the top stitching is performed in a second step while the operator infolds manually the part of the binding strip which secures the slit end. As obvious, the operation of top stitching is quite difficult and time consuming and requires a highly skilled operator to achieve constantly well appearing results.
Consequently, many efforts have been made to simplify the procedure for making the aforesaid sleeve placket, in order to achieve uniform quality by eliminating operator's influence at reduced cost. In the U.S. Pat. No. 2,453,623 there is described the method and an automatic infolding machine for cloth and similar blanks, and also how to prefold a binding strip in a preliminary working step. The folding procedure is performed by applying auxiliary means such as electric heat and moistening for achieving durably pressed prefolded binding strips. The sleeve placket is manufactured in a second working step by top stitching the prefolded binding strip to the sleeve blank by means of a separate sewing machine.
Both aforesaid methods preceed in two different working steps. Since the second one requires additional expensive equipment as well as expenses for stacking and handling the parts to be assembled, the first method depends on high skilled and well paid operators.